by Debra Webb
Just as they crossed the stream, his cell vibrated on the console. He picked it up. Holloway.
“What’s up?”
He supposed his friend just wanted to ensure they were ready and on the road.
“There’s been a change of plans.”
Holloway’s voice sounded as surprised and frustrated as Jax suddenly felt. “What kind of change?”
He glanced at Ali. She stared back at him with mounting uncertainty.
“AUSA Knowles is concerned about the commercial flight now.”
“Fine,” Jax said before he could continue. “I prefer driving.” He would be more in control of the situation that way.
“He still won’t agree to highway transport. He wants her on a plane.”
What the hell? “So where are we going?”
“There’s a private plane waiting at the Winchester Municipal Airport. Special Agent Wesley McEntire is waiting with the pilot.”
Last-minute changes always made Jax nervous. But it happened. There were people whose job it was to assess transport options all the way down to the wire.
“Okay. Give me the directions.” He listened as Holloway listed off the streets and turns he would need to make to reach the small local airport. “Thanks. I’ll confirm when we’re in the air.”
“Good luck, Stevens. Take good care of her.”
“If it’s the last thing I do,” he assured him.
He dropped his cell back on the console.
“I take it we’re not going to the airport in Huntsville.”
The slight hitch in her breathing as she spoke twisted his gut. “They’ve decided we’re taking a private plane from the airport here in Winchester.”
“Okay.”
She stared forward. He did the same.
“Is it normal to have last-minute changes on a day like today?”
She didn’t glance his way, and her words sounded stilted. He hated that she was afraid. Wished he could assure her, but every instinct he possessed warned that this was wrong somehow. Risky.
He glanced in the rearview mirror. No one behind them. He slowed and pulled to the side of the road.
She stared at him, worry clouding her face. “What’s wrong?”
He hesitated, but then he said what he felt. “We don’t have to do this.”
“I don’t understand.”
“We can drive away. Go someplace where that bastard will never find you.”
He sounded as if he’d gone over the edge. He recognized this. But the urge to take her out of this scenario and someplace else was overwhelming.
“No.” She shook her head. “Your career would be over, and that monster would walk away scot-free. I have to do this, Jax. There is no other choice.”
She was right. He didn’t know what he’d been thinking.
Before he could apologize, she leaned across the console and kissed him. “Thank you for caring so much.”
He forced a smile. “Let’s do this, then.”
Every nerve ending in his body was humming with a warning.
His instincts had only failed him once, and that had been ten years ago—when he walked away from this woman.
Chapter Twelve
The airport was smaller than she had expected.
A man in a dark suit identified himself as FBI, producing his credentials. Ali watched from the passenger seat of Jax’s SUV as he spoke with the agent. He had told her to stay in the vehicle until he checked things out.
Her nerves were vibrating, making her restless. She wanted to get on that plane, get to Atlanta and finish this. Most of all she wanted Jax to come through this unharmed, and for the first time since all this began, she desperately wanted to survive. For months she had hoped to survive, but if she didn’t—so be it. She would do this no matter how the circumstances ended for her. But now there was something to look forward to.
Jax wanted to try again.
He still cared about her.
Her pulse started to pound with the thought. She pushed away the tiny doubts that attempted to sprout. He had no reason to mislead her. It wasn’t like he was attempting to persuade her to testify. That was a given. He had absolutely nothing to gain by suggesting that they needed to pursue their feelings.
This was real.
Jax returned to the SUV and opened her door. “They’re ready.”
She was ready, too.
Ready to put the past behind her once and for all.
He stepped to the back of the SUV and grabbed their bags from the cargo area. Ali climbed out and walked across the tarmac with him. They climbed the stairs and stepped into the small jet. Inside there were six leather seats. Jax guided her to the middle row and gestured for her to have a seat.
The jet was small but well equipped. This one was not nearly as large but similar to the one the Armone family owned. Sleek and luxurious from the lighting to the carpet. The seats were heavenly.
The hydraulic sound of the door closing drew their attention forward. Beyond the small partition, the pilot was adjusting controls and speaking into his headset.
Jax moved toward him. “What about the agent?”
The pilot glanced back at him. “My orders are to transport only the two of you.” His attention shifted forward once more. “You and the other passenger need to prepare for takeoff. We have a tight schedule. If we don’t land on time, they’ll call out the cavalry.”
Ali’s nerves were jumping now. Jax was right—this didn’t feel right. The fear and paranoia could be the root of her sudden uneasiness, but she worried that it was more.
When Jax had settled into the seat next to her, he pulled out his cell.
The plane started to roll forward.
Ali focused on breathing. This would not be a good time for a panic attack. Flying had never bothered her before, but today was different.
Jax dropped his cell back into his jacket pocket. “There’s no service.”
His tension made her all the more anxious.
To hold herself together, she focused on the mundane. She fastened her safety belt. Jax did the same.
“How long does this flight take?” She hugged her arms around herself. Cold had seeped into every part of her.
“Forty minutes, maybe. Less than an hour for sure.”
Less than an hour. Good. “A car will pick us up and take us to the hotel?”
“Holloway said that had all been arranged by a Marshal Steadman from the Atlanta office.”
“I remember him,” she said, thinking back to the first big teleconference she’d participated in after arriving in Kentucky. She didn’t remember him commenting during the meeting, but he had been at the table.
“Try to relax,” he suggested. “This may be your last opportunity for any semblance of calm. There will likely be meetings this afternoon and final prep for tomorrow.”
“I’ll try, but no guarantees.”
He smiled, and she relaxed the tiniest bit, allowing her arms to settle onto the armrests rather than hugging so tightly around her. His hand settled over hers, fingers lacing. The sensation of being protected slipped over her.
She almost drifted off. She really did, but she couldn’t totally relax. Her mind kept going over all that had happened yesterday and last night—Bob’s injury, making love with Jax...talk of the future. Excitement shimmered just beneath the worries about tomorrow. She allowed her mind to wander. She would be facing Harrison’s father in the courtroom tomorrow. He would be sitting at the defendant’s table. She would be in the witness box describing all the heinous details of his life and work.
His evil eyes would stare at her, hoping to intimidate her. She was well aware of the depraved things he did to those who angered or betrayed him. But she had made up her mind that fear was not going to stop her. She would see him go down for all t
he terrible things he had done.
Her eyes drifted shut, and she almost dozed off. The sound of the pilot’s voice stirred her from that place between awake and asleep.
“Marshal Stevens?”
Jax unfastened his safety belt and walked to the front of the aircraft.
Ali leaned forward to hear the exchange. Her heart had started that frantic pounding again.
“We’re being diverted,” the pilot said.
“On whose order?” Jax asked.
“Marshal Steadman. There’s been a security breach with DeKalb-Peachtree. They’re diverting us to an airstrip about thirty-nine miles south of Atlanta. We’ll prepare for landing in another ten minutes.”
“All right.”
As he moved back toward his seat, the hard set of his jaw as well as the thin line of his lips told Ali that something beyond another change in the itinerary was wrong. He was not happy about this second change in plans. Her stomach twisted into knots. She wasn’t opposed to change—what worried her was his reaction to the changes. Jax had done this for a decade. His instincts were likely well honed. If he was worried, she certainly should be.
“How worried should I be?”
She saw no reason to beat around the bush. The next twenty-four hours were going to determine whether she had a future at all. The possibility that any future she might have could potentially include Jax had her even more determined to survive beyond tomorrow.
“We should be on alert,” he said. “Anytime there are security breaches and changes are necessary, the risk factor is elevated.”
Ali stared straight ahead. “He doesn’t want me to make it to Atlanta. If I don’t make it, he walks. I’m sure he would do anything to make that happen.”
She gritted her teeth. He could not get away with all he’d done. The fact that he’d murdered his own son wasn’t even the worst of his crimes. Particularly since his son had been equally guilty. Ali suppressed a shudder. She had spent most of the past nine months attempting to evict memories of their time together from her mind.
Years would be required to erase him and all that she had seen and experienced.
She turned to Jax. He attempted another call on his cell. No luck. Staying in her seat was becoming more and more difficult by the moment. What if the marshal wasn’t waiting for them at the airfield? What if it was Armone? Or some of his goons? They would all be dead within minutes of landing.
His gaze locked with hers. “We’ll get through this,” he promised.
She had to trust him. To do anything else would make the next minutes and hours unbearable. With that in mind, she mustered up a smile. “We will.”
“Descending now,” the pilot announced. “We’ll be landing soon.”
Jax took her hand again and returned her smile. Somehow just seeing his smile boosted her confidence. The plane started to descend, and Ali’s pulse thumped harder and harder. Marshal Steadman would be waiting for them. Dozens of people were working on their security. This was, after all, the trial of the century.
Ali stared out the window as they drew closer and closer to the ground. The airfield looked to be nothing more than an airstrip in the middle of nowhere. There were no hangars or other buildings. There was only one small block structure that could possibly be an office.
Jax leaned over her to peer out the window.
There was no car waiting. That grim expression claimed his face once more.
The plane touched down, bounced and then settled back onto the ground again. The wheels bumped along the strip of asphalt. The plane slowed, the inertia forcing them forward in their seats. Her stomach always flip-flopped during landings. She appreciated that the landing was over fairly quickly, if joltingly.
Before stopping completely, the pilot turned the plane around to face the entrance to the airstrip. “Your transportation hasn’t arrived yet. Marshal Steadman said you should stay onboard until your car arrives.”
For a long minute, they stayed in their seats, just as the pilot had said. Ali stared out the window. The airstrip was so far outside Atlanta that all she could see in any direction were trees. Maybe the isolation was an added layer of security. Armone couldn’t possibly have eyes on every airfield and private airstrip in the tri-county area. This was probably a good move.
Jax suddenly stood. He held out his hand. “I think we should wait outside.”
She didn’t second-guess him or hesitate. She stood and put her hand in his. “I could use some fresh air.”
When they started toward the door the pilot repeated, “Marshal Steadman said—”
Jax reached for the weapon in his shoulder holster. “Open the door and lower the stairs.”
The pilot, whose name she still didn’t know, turned back to the control center and took the necessary action to start the process Jax had requested. The hatch-style door slowly opened, and the staircase lowered to the ground.
Jax moved down the staircase, pulling Ali behind him. When their feet were on the ground and they were clear of the aircraft, Jax pulled her close.
“Something is wrong here.” He surveyed the area.
The sound of traffic in the distance suggested they weren’t far from an interstate. But here, there was nothing. They could have been back on that mountain outside Winchester. There were no houses in either direction. A two-lane, unlined road with faded asphalt sprawled out in both directions. The problem was she had no idea exactly where they were. Thirty miles south of Atlanta, he had said. Her mind attempted to piece together a map and pinpoint a spot.
“We may have to make a run for it,” he said, his gaze steady on the one entrance to the airstrip.
“I can do that.” She’d done a good deal of running the last year of her marriage as well as since she’d moved to Winchester. That path she and Bob had traveled every day had been done in a dead run as often as in a leisurely walk.
Ali never wanted to be weak or afraid ever again.
“Pay attention,” he said, “and do exactly as I say when I say it.”
She nodded, her heart starting to race. “How will we be sure who’s coming when the car turns in?”
The windows could be tinted. No one had told them what kind of vehicle Steadman would be driving. Worry gnawed at her.
A black sedan appeared in the distance.
“Looks like our ride,” Jax said.
The plane’s engine abruptly roared to life. Before the sedan she’d spotted had reached the turn to the airstrip, the plane was rolling toward takeoff at the other end of the airstrip.
“That’s our cue,” Jax said.
He was right. The pilot wouldn’t be taking off before he confirmed that they had been picked up unless he had reason to flee.
He was leaving them here to die.
Jax was suddenly tugging her along behind him.
The plane had lifted off, and the sedan had made its turn. They hit the tree line and plunged into the woods.
Ali had never been more thankful in her life for the cold weather. The chances of stumbling upon a snake were slim to none. Bears would likely still be hibernating. At least she hoped so.
The sound of car doors slamming in the distance warned they wouldn’t be running through these woods alone for long.
Chapter Thirteen
Ali ran as fast as she could.
Thank God for the running shoes she wore. And the warm socks and heavy jacket. Though it was warmer here than it had been in Tennessee, it was still cold.
Jax held tight to her hand and plunged through the woods, darting around trees, plowing through underbrush. There was no time to try the quiet route. His goal, she suspected, was to put as much distance between them and the bad guys as possible.
Slow and quiet could come later when they found some sort of cover or had gotten far enough ahead of those giving chase.
Li
mbs brushed at her legs. Roots snagged at her feet.
Don’t fall! Don’t fall!
Hang on tight to his hand.
Run.
She clung to his hand with all her strength. His grasp was firm, unrelenting. Her fingers were growing numb, but she ignored it. She had to keep going. Ignore the burn in her lungs. Hang on. Hang on.
A piece of tree bark popped into the air, pinged against her hair.
Then the echoing sound of bullets being fired exploded in her head.
They were shooting at them.
Move faster.
Jax suddenly stopped. She slammed into his back. He pulled her down to a crouch, his finger at his lips in a gesture of quiet.
The thick brush swallowed them.
He pointed to the water that was only steps away. Seemed too wide to be a stream...more like a river. She hadn’t even seen it until he pointed at it.
Fear surged through her veins.
They were trapped.
He dropped to his hands and knees and crawled toward the water. She followed. He went in first, crawling until his body floated in the deeper water.
Ice seemed to form around her as she did the same. The water was so cold.
How could they escape like this?
They would surely die of hypothermia first!
He suddenly disappeared.
Her breath caught. Where was he?
His hand tugged her downward.
She inhaled long and deep and slid beneath the surface. The water was murky, but not so dark that she couldn’t see the rocky bottom. She wasn’t sure how long she could hold her breath.
Suddenly they were in total darkness. She drew back. Needed to surface. He pulled her onward. She needed air. She couldn’t stay under any longer.
Suddenly he was pulling her upward. When her face broke the surface of the water, she gasped for air. Her lungs seized with need. Her body quaked from the icy water. He pressed his finger to her lips. She could barely see him. Why was it so dark? Light filtered in, but only a tiny amount.
She forced her brain to think—to analyze their surroundings. The water was up around their waists, not quite to their chests. Sunlight filtered through...limbs and twigs and other natural debris. She understood now. A large tree had fallen into the water and served as a dam-like object, holding fallen limbs and twigs and...wait. She blinked to adjust her eyes. Maybe not all the debris was natural. An old beverage cooler, the disposable kind. What might be a black jacket and other trash.
